Obliging

One afternoon last week, we were peering at a knobbly-kneed and whiskery satyr chasing a rather buck-toothed dryas around a tree on an oil on exhibition at the outdoor art show down in Washington Square when the creator of the work, who was sitting on a folding chair nearby, addressed us confidentially. "If that's too representational for you," he said, "I can do an abstraction on the theme on the other side of the canvas."